A prescription written for Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess to help his insomnia has sold at auction for £750.

It was addressed to "Herr Rudolf Hess, deputy Fuhrer, Luftwaffe", while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for three days and nights in May 1941.

Hess had just failed in a mission to secure peace between Germany and Britain by flying solo to Scotland, forcing Hitler to denounce him as a madman.

The prescription was for a sleeping draught of potassium bromide and chloral hydrate, with flavouring, in water.

Written by a London chemist, A.R Rowe, the pharmacist’s slip was sold by Eldreds Auctioneers of Plymouth to a British museum for £750.

Also in the lot was a second script addressed to “A. English Esq” but written on the back was “Prescription for Josef Jakobs”.

Jakobs was the last person to be executed in the Tower of London. He was shot in August 1941 as a German spy at the Tower’s firing range.

In a contemporary newspaper cutting included in the lot, Jakobs was reported to be taking a drug which he had previously refused, in the moments before his execution to calm him.

Auctioneer Anthony Eldred said this prescription was for that drug, a sedative of sodium amytal compound.

He said the lot included the service and pay book of Rowe, and the sale was made from his estate.

Mr Eldred said: “We expected it to go for £200 to £300 but it is virtually impossible to put a price on such a unique item.

“So we are very pleased that we managed to sell for £750 and we certainly had a lot of interest.

Mr Eldred would not say which museum bought the lot but said it would be on display.

But Historic Royal Palaces, which operates the Tower of London, said it had not put in a bid for the prescriptions.

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